You won’t find my Don Anderson listed online. He died recently and his website has been taken down. Too Bad, because as my Instructor for Experimental Methods and Alternative Processes at Monterey Peninsula College, He was a huge influence. I was introduce to photographic concepts I would never have tried on my own.

So let me show some examples of techniques I never would have tried without Don Anderson:

Cyanotypes & Van Dykes:

Experimental Developing Methods:

Liquid Emulsions:

Crappy Cameras, Holga & Diana:

Pinholes:

The most important thing that I learned was, that even if these are not methods you will focus on, the exposure to these methods will have a positive influence on your Mainstream Photography.

Reading Jim Grey’s recent Blog on the subject of Bathroom Mirror Selfies made me think about the ones I have done, and the ones that I want to do soon. He also mentioned the importance of Photography as Therapy., as any Art form can be. It certainly has worked that way for me, carrying me through serious illnesses twice now.

I am posting this to Celebrate my Birthday! Something that wasn’t assured just a few month ago. And I am going forth with my Series “Facing 60”. Starting here and now I will post self Portraits from time to time at different ages and stages……

About 10 years ago I was starting a self-portrait project called “Facing 50”. I had read an article by someone who had documented their life through self portraits taken over 20+ years. But my Project ended up being derailed by Breast Cancer. You think I would have learned from that and NOT tried to do a “Facing 60”. Undaunted, I started on that Series anyway, and it was derailed by a brain tumor that IS NOT Cancer, but nevertheless a problem. Having anything growing in your Brain that doesn’t belong there is a problem.

As you can see below I started the original Project on Ash Wednesday in 2010. In this case I was experimenting with my 20 ft cable release and my M645. A little soft focused because I had to ‘guestimate’ the distance. I featured one of my favorite images……

So, I had taken a few photos of myself before the current events. My husband had taken quite a few photos of me to post on my “Through the Glass” blog posts. To Summarize “Facing 60” will contain a variety of “Self-Portraits” and evolve into a Project Page.

So this is where I started 9 years ago when my Cancer treatment had ended, I was on the road to recovery and starting a new career:

And now for some Mirror-Selfies: One full-frame showing all the lovely bathroominess and the rest cropped Rollei TLR 6X6 to remove as much of the Bathroom as possible. I’m going to do a reshoot in this mirror when I get home. Next time I will not have the shower curtain line going through my head!

I waited with baited breath, as they say, for results from early E100 Film Testing. Always reliable, I delved into the EMULSIVE Review, which compared various exposures, by processing at EI 100, 200, 400 800. At first glance I like the EI200 images, so I started by comparing EI 100 vs EI 200. The Cameras, my nearly identical Minolta X-700 with Tamron 28-200 zoom lens, which I’ve used for a number of side by side film tests:

I took a second look at the EMULSIVE results after reviewing my own tests, and can’t believe that I didn’t see the EI 200 images were colder. Also, the example scenes were not typical subjects that I would have photographed (the exception being flowers). I had fears about the new E100 because I new that it was based on E100G, which I had always found to be too cold. I always used a warming filter with the old E100G. The long gone warm tone balanced E100GX had been my favorite.

So my results, E100 @ EI 125 (following Galen Rowell’s recommendation) on the top and EI 200 on the bottom. All of the photos are the original raw scans with no adjustments of brightness, contrast or levels and no warming filter:

The Cathedral Rocks in Arizona, I tried to get the same perspective, but there is a slight difference. Below viewed from a distance:

And zoomed in:

Note the color of the Red Rocks and the Soil. Since I frequently shoot Red Rocks, I’d like them to have the truer Red of the EI 125 images. Below I’m showing the EI 125 exposed a +1 stop. It probably offers a truer color rendition:

It’s probably time for me to test E100 with a warming Filter vs. Portra 400. I’ve found Portra 400 to be an acceptable color film for my current use. I’ve also been spoiled by the wide latitude of exposures that a C-41 film allows. Since I mostly shoot B&W now, I’m not sure that E100 has enough zip to bring me back to E-6. But I’ll wait on a final E100 choice after the 120 is available. I’ll test that vs Portra 400.

This post IS for Good Friday. But there is also a Story to be told. This was my second visit to the Riverside Cemetery in Denver. Dragging around my Mamiya 645 in its rolling case. The Riverside Cemetery is a place to go for History Addicts, as it is the oldest Denver Cemetery. It needs some love, but is now being managed by The Friends of Historic Riverside Cemetery.

But things aren’t as they seem, when I scanned the film from my second visit I reversed the negative. And on my first visit I had taken the Long View. The original perspective and correct orientation is below. What do You Think?

Notice the lovely Oil Refinery in the background, which is why on my second visit, I moved in closer to “crop in the camera”, and show the face of Mary. I also had better light on the second go around.

We spent an afternoon at Arcosanti,Paolo Soleri’s Urban Laboratory. They had a wonderful path that allowed me to test the pinhole range and estimate the distance. I wanted to do this because when I tried it before I was way off in my range estimates. I got exactly what I needed, and a nice image of their sign:

I plan on going back for Pinhole Day and capturing some interior photos.